Sun’s fast start, big finish force WNBA Finals to Game 5

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Connecticut Sun didn’t play as if they were afraid their season was about to end. Instead, they looked like they couldn’t wait to take another flight.

“We knew we were here for a reason,” Connecticut’s Jonquel Jones said. “We knew if we played our game, we’d walk away with a win and go back to Washington.”

For most of the first half, that looked like a certainty. But the Mystics rallied big-time to turn a blowout into a barn-burner. With their defense leading the way down the stretch, the Sun survived 90-86 in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals on Tuesday, another dramatic game in this back-and-forth series.

The Mystics rallied from down as much as 18, and had they won that would have tied for the biggest comeback in WNBA Finals history. But the Sun made some clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and their defense — which had bent considerably in the second half — came through in the closing minutes.

The WNBA Finals will be going to a decisive fifth game for the seventh time — and fourth in the last five years — since the league went to a best-of-five format in 2005. Game 5 will be Thursday (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET) back in Washington D.C.; the home team has won that game four of the six previous times.

At 15-2, the Sun tied the Los Angeles Sparks for the best record at home during the regular season. But they lost 94-81 before a packed house in Game 3 Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Sun didn’t let that happen again.

“We didn’t play that well Sunday, so it was do-or-die for us,” Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas said. “

Sunday, the Mystics went 16 of 27 from 3-point range, and that was too much for Connecticut to overcome. Forward Shekinna Stricklen said she and her fellow Sun defenders too often “left each other on an island” defensively in Game 3, but’s it’s easy to see how that happens against the Mystics.

The Sun did everything better in Tuesday’s first half. The first quarter has been a bellwether in this series, and they dominated Tuesday’s opening period, 32-17. The Mystics got a lift from the bench for part of the second quarter, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Sun from taking a 56-40 lead into halftime.

Washington’s Elena Delle Donne missed most of Game 2, which the Mystics lost 99-87, on Oct. 1 with what was diagnosed the next day as a herniated disk in her back. She was able to play 26 minutes, getting 13 points and six rebounds in Washington’s 94-81 victory Sunday, which put the Mystics a game away from the championship.

And the Mystics played in the second half like they wanted to close that out here in Connecticut. They outscored the Sun 28-12 in the third quarter, and the score was tied 68-68 going into the fourth period.

Sticklen’s 3-pointer with 2:23 left, though, put the Sun up 87-84, and the Mystics scored just once after that, on a Natasha Cloud drive to the basket. The Sun breathed a sigh of relief and celebrated as the buzzer sounded, knowing they’ve extended this season as far as it can go. Jones secured the final rebound of the game; she finished with 18 points and 13 boards.

Delle Donne played 30 minutes and finished with 11 points, while Aerial Powers led Washington with 15 points.

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